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by Bob Fromer
Rosmalen, Netherlands – The GB Under-19 Women's Fastpitch Team recorded their fifth straight win on Wednesday afternoon at the European Junior Championships and their second in the Championship playoff round as they mercy-ruled Russia by 9-2 in five innings.
Russia was a step up in pedigree from most of the teams that Great Britain has played so far, but that didn't seem to make any difference to a team that is definitely on a roll. It took the GB players a couple of innings to adjust to the speed of Russian pitcher Irina Ilyashenko after the slow deliveries they saw in their 11-0 win over Lithuania this morning -- a game in which GB pitcher Amie Hutchison from Norfolk, in her first tournament start for the Under-19s, pitched a one-hit shutout (a report on that game is below).
Once those adjustments were made, however, GB scored eight runs on 11 hits over the final three innings of the game and literally left the Russians in their wake.
Meanwhile GB starter Emma Bridge pitched a steady game, getting in and out of trouble in the second and fifth innings, some of it not of her own making. But just as in GB's dramatic win yesterday against Germany, Emma never cracked, and held the Russians to just a single run in each of those innings when it could easily have been more.
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The igniter
Although GB first base player Lauren Evans continued her extra-base onslaught on European pitching with a triple and a double and three more RBIs, and GB got hits from almost everyone in the line-up, the offensive star against the Russians was centre fielder Hayley D'Avilar.
Hayley went four-for-four without hitting a ball out of the inning, using her speed on bunts and slaps to drive the Russians crazy. Hayley scored three of GB's nine runs and ignited rallies or kept them going in four of the five innings played.
Tense start
Russia went up and down in order in the top of the first inning, and GB immediately put a run on the board.
Hayley D'Avilar started things by beating out a grounder to second base, and Keeli Waugh put down a good sacrifice bunt to push Hayley to second (the GB Team executed well on sacrifice bunts throughout the game). Lauren Evans walked and Kirsten Mack, perhaps too eager, popped up on the first pitch she saw. But Georgina Corrick, playing third base in this game despite a sore knee that restricted her mobility, did what she was in the line-up to do, and lined a sharp single into right centre field to cash the run.
But Russia responded in the top of the second inning as the GB defense went AWOL and the Russians started to hit the ball.
Tatiana Kludhova began the inning by hitting a ball down the left field line that was misplayed for a double, and Viktoria Sorokina sacrificed Tatiana to third. Then signals seemed to get crossed between Emma Bridge and catcher Kirsten Mack, resulting in a passed ball that allowed Kludhova to score.
Irina Ilyashenko then singled to right, GB failed to get an out on Anastasia Nacharova's bunt, there was another passed ball – and things were on the verge of getting out of control. But Lauren Evans made a fine play on a bunt by Milena Makushina to get the out at first while keeping the runner on third from scoring, and Emma Bridge got Valeria Grafskaya on a called third strike to end the inning. So the score was only tied at 1-1, but it could have been so much worse.
Momentum change
Still, the momentum seemed to be with Russia. GB went three up, three down in the bottom of the second inning, and Russia returned to the attack in the top of the third, with a lead-off single and a successful sacrifice bunt. The next hitter, Natalia Kuzmina, hit a line drive that looked head for right centre field. But GB second base player Sian Wigington leaped high for the ball, got the tip of her glove to it, and then lunged and caught the ball with her bare hand as it came out of the glove and looked certain to fall to the ground.
That play may well have changed the momentum of the game. The next Russian batter bounced back to Emma Bridge to end the inning with the score still tied at 1-1 – and then the GB offense took over.
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Hit parade
It was Hayley D'Avilar who started things off once again leading off in the bottom of the third inning, as she beat out a ground ball to shortstop and took second on the bad hurried throw. Keeli Waugh put down the obligatory sacrifice bunt, but beat it out, so GB had runners on first and third. And moments later, both runners were crossing the plate as Lauren Evans hit another majestic drive to the fence in left centre field. Lauren came in on a sharply-hit line drive double by Georgina Corrick later in the inning, and GB had a 4-1 lead.
Russia went down in order in the top of the fourth, with Sian Wigington at second base recording two assists and a put-out, and then GB put the game to bed in the bottom of the inning.
This time it was right fielder Amy Trask who got things started with a solid single to right centre field, the first of five straight GB hits. Hayley D'Avilar beat out a perfect bunt in front of home plate, Keeli Waugh singled to right field, Lauren Evans boomed another double to right centre and Kirsten Mack drove a single to right. That was four more runs in, the score was 8-1 for GB, and all they had to do to win the game was to keep the Russians from scoring in the top of the fifth inning.
But that didn't happen.
Nailing it down
Milena Makushina led off the top of the fifth inning by flying out to Chloe Wigington in left field. But the next batter, Valeria Grafskaya, hit a little fly ball over third that rolled all the way to left field corner. Grafskaya stopped momentarily on third, but then scored when the throw from shortstop Keeli Waugh eluded several GB fielders waiting in the vicinity of home plate. That run made the score 8-2 and meant that GB would have to bat again
When the next two hitters, Nina Zakaznikova and Ekaterina Aleshina, both singled, a mini-crisis seemed to be developing. But once again, Emma Bridge pulled herself together and got the next two batters on a fly ball to centre field and a bouncer to third.
And then GB came to bat in the bottom of the fifth, and without much ado, scored the run that ended the game on the mercy rule. Amie Hutchison led off with a four-pitch walk and Amy Trask bunted her to second base. Hayley D'Avilar reached on her fourth hit of the game, a chopper up the middle, with Amie moving to third.
It seemed like there would be no escape for the Russians, and there wasn't. Keeli Waugh grounded to shortstop, Amie Hutchison broke for the plate on contact and the ball went straight through Polina Vereykina's legs and on into the outfield as Amie crossed the plate.
GB had its fifth straight win in the competition, certainly something that no GB Under-19 team has ever come close to before.
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Other playoff action
Today (Wednesday) has featured a crowded schedule of playoff games in both the Championship and Consolation brackets.
This morning, the Netherlands predictably knocked off Belgium by 13-0 in four innings but Italy, surprisingly, struggled against France, prevailing by only 9-6 and the Czech Republic ran up its own 9-0 mercy-rule win over Russia, perhaps setting up the Russians nicely for GB to administer a knockout punch to Russian hopes of progressing to the end of the tournament.
Championship round scores so far today have been:
GB 11, Lithuania 0 (4 innings)
Netherlands 13, Belgium 0 (4 innings)
Italy 9, France 6
Czech Republic 9, Russia 0 (5 innings)
Italy 18, Belgium 0 (3 innings)
Netherlands 21, France 0 (3 innings)
Czech Reublic 10, Lithuania 0 (4 innings)
GB 9, Russia 2 (5 innings)
France 8, Belgium 3
Netherlands 2, Italy 1
Tomorrow
From the scores above, the big beasts in this tournament are clearly the defending champion Netherlands and the Italians, and GB may face both of them in a heavy day tomorrow.
The rain that interrupted play on Monday has finally caught up with the GB Team, who will play three games tomorrow. If GB defeats the Czech Republic in a game scheduled for 9.00 am, then we'll play the loser of tonight's Netherlands v Italy game at 1.30 pm, and the winner at 8.15.
On Friday, GB will play France at 11.15 am, and then all the playoff results will be compiled to see which of the eight teams that started the Championship playoffs have made it to the final four, and a Page playoff that will happen on Friday afternoon and Saturday.
So far, GB is well on course to be there -- but tomorrow will be a very tough day.
GB v Lithuania
Earlier in the day -- in fact, starting at the ungodly hour of 9.00 am -- Amie Hutchison from Norfolk threw a one-hit four-inning shutout in her first tournament start for the GB Under-19 Women's Fastpitch Team, and Great Britain coasted past Lithuania, 11-0, in the first game of the playoff rounds.
Amie struck out seven of the 13 batters she faced, and was one batter away from pitching a perfect game. But with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, Lithuanian shortstop Nomeda Neverauskaite dropped a single into left field. Unfazed, Amie promptly struck out clean-up hitter Migle Paskocimaite to end the game.
Getting going
The GB offense took a while to get going in this game against the slow deliveries of starting pitcher Gintare Paskocimaite and then her sister, Migle Paskocimiate, who came in during the second inning after Gintare had walked two GB batters and hit another with a pitch.
GB managed only a single run in the bottom of the first inning as Keeli Waugh walked, stole second, carried on to third when the catcher's throw went awry (that happened four times in the three innings that GB batted) and scored on the fifth extra-base hit of the tournament so far by GB first base player Lauren Evans. But the Lithuanians came up with a fine pair of relay throws to tag Lauren out at third base trying to stretch the hit to a triple.
Three runs were added in the second inning. Lead-off hitter Sian Wigington walked, stole second, went to third on a bad throw from the catcher and scored on a wild pitch. One out later, Gabry Sassoli and Hayley D'Avilar drew successive walks, both stole second and Gabry scored on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Keeli Waugh while Hayley went to third on the play and then scored on a wild pitch.
After Lauren Evans was hit by a pitch, the Lithuanians changed pitchers and Migle Paskocimiate somehow got Kirsten Mack to strike out swinging, GB's only strikeout of the game.
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Hit explosion
By the third inning, GB hitters had found their timing, and put the game away with seven runs on eight hits, including back-to-back inside-the-park home runs by Keeli Waugh and Lauren Evans that found the fences in right centre and right field respectively.
Other hits in the inning were singles by Chloe Wigington (twice), Sian Wigington, Gabry Sassoli and Hayley D'Avilar, plus a bloop double over first base by Amie Hutchison.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, Amie Hutchison was steadily mowing down and sometimes overpowering the Lithuanian hitters, pitching with excellent control, speed and location. Amie didn't walk a batter and at one point struck out four Lithuanians in succession.
Amie was GB's main pitcher last summer at the European Under-16 Cadette Championships, and also went with the Under-19s to the World Championships in Canada, primarily to gain experience. But this start today suggests that Amie is on the road to playing an important role for the GB Under-19s and eventually the GB Women's Team in the future.
Tournament notes
Two years ago, when the European Junior Championships were also held in Rosmalen, the ESF asked for feedback from teams and was told by almost everyone that the schedule had too few games (most teams played around six). The ESF clearly listened, and this year's schedule, with four different rounds and three round-robins for teams in Championship contention, was the answer.
But the ESF may have gone too far towards the other extreme. It's possible for a team to play as many as 12 games in six days, which means a schedule for all teams that is fairly unrelenting. And Monday's rain made things worse, with some teams now having to play three games in a day.
Maybe the best answer would be something in the middle – say nine games – and perhaps the ESF will look at this again for 2016.
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Photos by Simon Mortimer